St. Lucia's Offshore Advantage
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Location:
St. Lucia, "the Helen of the West Indies"
lies roughly between 60° and 61° West longitude;
13° and 14° North Latitude. 1,300 miles
South East of Florida, in the Caribbean.
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Access:
There are regular and daily flights to and from
the United States, Canada and Europe.
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Government:
St. Lucia is an independent member of the British
Commonwealth, with a political system based on the
Westminister Model, but with a written constitution.
St. Lucia has a history of being a stable and safe
democracy.
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Legal
System: St. Lucia has a tradition of separation
of powers between the judicial system and the political
system. The judiciary is independent and the Privy
Council is the final court of appeal.
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Economy:
The three (3) main pillars of the local economy
are: Tourism, Agriculture and industry, with special
emphasis now being placed on the provision of
services, especially international financial services.
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Financial
Infrastructure: Many international financial
institutions are represented on the island; they
along with several indigenous banks offer all the
services associated with a modern financial centre.
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Communication:
A modern, full automatic digital telephone system
is in place with Internet access, and other means
of communication in this modern age. We offer an
on-line IBC registry which uses the latest stare-of-the-art
technology, allowing for incorporation and other
functions to be carried out on-line form any where
in the world.
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Currency:
St. Lucia's currency is the Eastern Caribbean Dollar
(EC$) which has an exchange rate of EC$2.7 to the
US Dollar.
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Time
Zone: St. Lucia lies in the Atlantic standard
time zone - 12 hours behind Hong Kong.
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The
People: St. Lucia has a population f approximately
150,000 people; with a large pool of professionals
and university graduates including lawyers, accountants,
corporate managers and experts in the field of finance.
Competent staff is plentiful and available at reasonable
rates - much lower than some of our neighbours in
the industry.
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Language:
English is the official language and we boast to
have the highest number of Nobel Lauretes per capita.
Sir Arthur Lewis in Economics and Derek Walcott
for Literature.
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St.
Lucia's Strategy
- Diversify
the economy
- Provide
quality jurisdiction
- Adhere
to acceptable international standards.
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hope to achieve this by: |
- our
anti-money laundering legislation which
meets the standards set out by FATF
- by
a strong regulatory department - the Financial
Services Supervision Unite, headed by
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a Director of International Financial
Services
- a
licensing regime for service providers.
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No
person can engage in the business of providing international
financial services representation unless licensed
by the Government.
Applicants must be professional such as lawyers
or accountants or must be qualified persons with
relevant experience. They must also be of sound
reputation and meets tests of fit and proper. Once
approved, they must have in place adequate professional
indemnity insurance and must submit annual audited
financial statement.
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Overseas
Involvement.
The Legislation
St. Lucia has in place a suite of legislation
designed to meet the needs of the industry and
has adopted a position of being proactive and
responsive with its laws.
St.
Lucia's legislative package includes:
- the
Registered Agent and Trustee Licensing
Act
- the
International Business Companies Act
- the
International Trust Act
- the
International Banks Act
- the
International Mutual Funds Act
- the
International Insurance Act
- the
Money Laundering (Prevention) Act
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